It was hard to believe the awkward, spotty youth sitting in the Central Local Court on Thursday was capable of planning such a horrific act of public violence.

Wearing a blue fleecy tracksuit and an obvious sense of unease at the many pairs of eyes focused in his direction, 22-year-old Omarjan Azari looked more like a teenager accused of shoplifting than a man who had planned the "random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute".

One man detained by police kneels on the ground as a raid is carried out. Credit:Reuters/Australian Federal Police

The morning for Mr Azari began with a shock – a shock shared by millions of Australians as 800 police mounted what has been billed as Australia's largest counterterrorism operation.

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It will await later assessments as to whether the results will amount to more than one man in a court dock charged with plotting unfathomable violence, and a second man facing weapons charges.

Police charged Mr Azari and detained 14 others; nine have been released and two women were issued with court attendance notices.

On Thursday night, a 24-year-old Merrylands man was charged with possessing ammunition without a license, and unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon. He was released on bail, and is due back in court on September 24.

One firearm and a sword were sealed in plastic evidence bags and taken away for forensic testing.

A large media pack gathered out the front of Mr Azari's Guildford house as police spoke to his relatives and searched an adjoining garage before digging up parts of the front lawn.

A woman named Marie, who lived directly behind, said the family had only moved to the house three weeks ago and were often heard having loud conversations in the backyard late at night.

About a 30-minute drive away, more than two dozen police stormed into the Alou family's unit on Lane Street, Wentworthville.

Raban Alou said police were targeting his brother Kawa because he hung around a "bunch of hotheads" who were being investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

He said police were searching for any material that could link his family to al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

"I dunno, I got a lot of anger," he said. "It's a war on Islam just because we grow our beards. They want to label us as a terrorist, or supporters of IS, whatever, that's up to you."

Just around the corner in the neighbouring suburb of Westmead police had also woken up the Dudu family.

Tom Dudu, 19, is friends with the Alous and said police had questioned his two brothers, his mother and seized all their phones and laptops.

He was not allowed to go into his Bridge Road home, so spent the day driving to the homes of other friends who had also been targeted during the raids.

In the north-western suburb of Marsfield, detectives were leaving a home on Booth Street carrying bags of evidence.

There appeared to be a large sword in a sheath contained in one bag.

Officers spent about seven hours searching the duplex, including the garage and a gold-coloured Toyota.

Riot police and the dog squad were also in attendance earlier in the morning.

A man in a hooded jumper was brought out of the home by detectives just after 10am.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said people targeted in the raids had been the subject of an investigation that started earlier this year.

He said Australian Federal Police and NSW Police had thwarted a "serious act of violence" .

"That allegation will relate to serious violence on a random member of the public here on the streets of NSW," Mr Scipione said.